Storing an engine

[WhoWhatNow]

I have a 1600cc VW engine with all the accessories that I want to disassemble and store until I have time to get to it. I will be storing it in my basement, so I plan on disassembling, cleaning everything to minimize odors/fluids and packing into Akro bins before bringing it into the house. It will be an almost complete tear down so I know what is good and what isn’t sooner rather than later. I was thinking that the case halves, crank, pistons, and complete heads would be cleaned in a parts washer then lightly oiled and bagged for storage. Will this be OK for longer term storage? Any suggestions on how to clean/store things like the carbs, alternator and starter?

 

[lilredex]

I'd leave it assembled and bagged. Take it apart now and a year or two down the road you'll forget how it went together. Especially, if you intend to reuse as is...leave it assembled, it'll never run the same again if taken a part.

Bag the carb and others separately.

 

[510ebl]

https://www.originalcosmoline.com/products.php

Alternator and starter? At most a plastic bag, they live outside. Carb? Make sure there is no residual fuel and ziplock it.

 

[ericm]

Yea I'd leave it assembled if you expect to run it again (rather than using it for parts). Keeps the parts together, keeps the internal parts covered (mostly, but you can address that), and stores in a smaller space than a disassembled engine. Even with notes and a shop manual it can be tough to assemble a pile of parts that you took apart years ago. Especially if you like to keep things like pistons and valves in their original position.

Don't store it in the basement unless it's quite dry down there. Especially if the engine has magnesium cases.

 

[Charlie51]

Leave the engine together. It's surprising how quickly those internal parts of an engine can rust once you take things apart and clean them.

 

[Jagmandave]

I agree, I overhaul classic Mini engines and the one thing I insist on is that they leave it all together. I recognize that you might like to get the parts on the way ahead of time but it's smarter to wait till you disassemble it, then order parts and be cleaning everything up, by then your parts will be there and you can put it back together while it's all fresh in your head. Do dry the gas out of the carb tho....I also drain the oil, as you don't know how long it's been in there and how acidic it might be. You may know since it's your engine, but do it anyway. Bag it, tag it and put it away somewhere safe where things won't get dropped on it and where you won't knock it off the shelf or trip over it.

 

[y'sguy]

And I hate to be a naysayer about it it, BUT IF you NEVR get back to it, it will be worth more together than apart.

 

[matt_i]

i'd vote for a big bag and some dessicant packs that get thrown inside of it to "eat" any moisture that's left over.

Couple drops of engine oil down each cylinder thru the spark plug hole would be helpful.

You might leave sketches, notes, manuals, etc inside of there in their own ziplock bags and a flash drive full of pictures in case there are other important bits and pieces which get removed. Loose parts I'd wire-tag.

If you wanted to "dip" the carb first...Berryman's or equivalent and blow out all of the passages that's a nice step there. I also like to use a wire from a wire tag to poke down various tiny drilled passages where fuel-gum likes to go.

If you can talk yourself into putting in the work now it will be a heckuva lot easier down the road. Those grey matter cells are faulty!

Another idea is to make a wooden ply and 2x base for it to keep it upright. Could even integrate wheels or a space for a pallet jack to move it around if needed.

 

[BillK]

I will also vote for leaving it together but if you want to take it apart just leave the parts dirty and pack them away till you are ready. Some of the worse engines I see are the ones that guys have done exactly what you are planning. As soon as you clean the stuff it will start rusting no matter what you put on it.

And PLEASE dont coat stuff with grease or cosmoline unless you plan on removing it before bringing the stuff to a machine shop. Grease is the worst stuff to put in a hot tank.

The one good part about your plan is keeping it in the basement. At least the temperature will be fairly constant. Sheds and unheated garages are terrible.

 

[nadogail]

I will also vote for leaving it together but if you want to take it apart just leave the parts dirty and pack them away till you are ready. Some of the worse engines I see are the ones that guys have done exactly what you are planning. As soon as you clean the stuff it will start rusting no matter what you put on it.

And PLEASE dont coat stuff with grease or cosmoline unless you plan on removing it before bringing the stuff to a machine shop. Grease is the worst stuff to put in a hot tank.

The one good part about your plan is keeping it in the basement. At least the temperature will be fairly constant. Sheds and unheated garages are terrible.

What he said, I have worked in a shop where we were brought an engine in parts, the guy really had messed up.

 

[66Caprice]

Leave it together. Blast the cylinders with some oil and leave the plugs in and release all of the valve train so the valves are closed to seal the cylinders.

 

[Chuckster in NJ]

Another vote for....Leaving it together!
I would spray the engine with fogging spray and plug any openings so critters could not get in. Drain the carb and blow it out and then protect it with shrink wrap.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

i'd vote for a big bag and some dessicant packs that get thrown inside of it to "eat" any moisture that's left over.

I've seen engines stored this way and this is absolutely how to do it. Assemble, stuff it in a VCI bag with some large dessicant bags, close it up.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

Thanks for the comments guys. I will rethink disassembling the engine. The main reasons I wanted to take it apart was to make getting it into the basement easier and to not have oil smells in the basement/house. I figured it would be easier to seal smaller components on bags.

 

[JSGAuto]

Leave it in an accessible location. Then you can rotate the engine occasionally, and spray some fogging oil in the cylinders.

 

[1967ChevyRagtop]

Worked at a GM dealer in mid '70s. Guy had his ~75 pickup towed in. The bed was full of engine parts, all with labels as to where they went, like "Next to the blue thing".
He took apart emission stuff which was not suitable for disassembly, esp in the '70s.
Even the carb.
Said he was cleaning it up so it would run better.

Other than the big stuff, there was no way to tell what went where or was missing.

We eventually just replaced the motor with a GM crate.
bg

 

[yhprum]

I vote for keeping it together. Google engine storage bags.

 

[SGKent]

Usually keeping it together is the best. But if you pull it apart then Cosemoline and drier packages. You can keep the crank and rods in a 5 gallon bucket of oil. Frankly, a basement is the last place I would store an engine because of the humidity.

 

[NZGarage]

If you disassemble to each part, spray each part with deodorised fish oil then bag up.

 

[twistedstang]

Keep it together. Spray some fogging oil into each of the cylinders and make some block off plates for the exhaust ports and intake ports. Loosen up the rockers if you really wanna be ****.